Dead or Alive 3
}} |japanese_name= デッドオアアライブ3 (Deddo oa Araibu Surī) |image1= File:DOA3NA.jpg |caption1= North American cover art featuring Hitomi and Jann Lee. |title2= Video Game |developers= Team Ninja |publishers= Tecmo |series= Dead or Alive |platforms= Xbox |release_dates= / November 15, 2001 February 22, 2002 March 14, 2002 |genres= Fighting game |modes= Single-player, Multiplayer (up to 4 players) |ratings= ELSPA: 11+ ESRB: Teen PEGI: 16+ USK: 12+ }} Dead or Alive 3 (also known as DOA3) is the third main installment (5th overall) of the ''Dead or Alive'' fighting series. Developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo, Dead or Alive 3 was first released on November 14, 2001 in America as a launch title for the Xbox. It was the first title of the series not to be released in the arcades, and the last game in the series to be rated "T for Teens" until Dead or Alive Dimensions was released. Dead or Alive 3 was very well received. It was a commercial success upon release, selling 1.77 million copies worldwide becoming the best selling title in the franchise, and one of the top best selling Xbox games. Story Shortly after the events of the second Dead or Alive Tournament, the Dead or Alive Tournament Executive Committee took the leader of the Hajinmon sect of the Mugen Tenshin clan, Genra, as a human weapon, to create the "ultimate fighter", as part of Project Omega. The experiment was a success, and Genra was turned into the monstrous, inhuman creature Omega. To test the subject's skills against others, DOATEC held the third Dead or Alive World Combat Championship to use as a testing ground. The leader of the Mugen Tenshin clan, Hayate and his half-sister Ayane (Genra's foster-daughter and heir) entered the tournament, also with their friend Ryu Hayabusa, to kill Omega to stop any destruction that may arise, and to kill Genra. As the shinobi made it to the final rounds, an argument started about who should kill Omega: as leader of the clan, Hayate felt it was his duty to help a fellow master, and Ayane felt that, as the foster-daughter of Genra, only she could slay the monster her father had become. After defeating Hayate, Ayane was the one who faced Omega. She managed to destroy the super-human, and Genra was laid to rest. As a result of Genra's passing, Ayane became the new master of the Hajinmon Sect. Characters Dead or Alive 3 features seventeen playable characters, four of which were new to the series in this title. Only one character is unlockable and can not be played in Story Mode. Returning playable characters *'Kasumi', a kunoichi who rejected her duty to become the leader of the Mugen Tenshin clan and instead became a nukenin so that she could avenge her brother, Hayate, who was paralyzed by their uncle Raidou. Day after day, Kasumi is forced to defend herself from attempts on her life by highly skilled shinobi assassins. Now learning that Hayate is to be at the third Dead or Alive tournament, Kasumi is determined to see her brother once again. *'Ryu Hayabusa', the modern super shinobi and the best friend of Kasumi's brother, Hayate. In the last tournament, he successfully brought down Bankotsubo, the feared Tengu of Destruction, who had brought chaos to the whole world. This time around, Hayabusa enters the tournament to save the world from Omega, an evil being created by DOATEC. *'Zack', the funky dude who taught himself Muay Thai. One day, after spending all his winnings from the last tournament, Zack realizes that he has forgotten to do the one thing that he wanted to do: go to and enjoy the many luxuries of the famous city. Needing money to help fund his trip, Zack enters the tournament once again. *'Gen Fu', the master of xinyi liuhe quan who fought in the previous Dead or Alive tournaments to obtain the money needed to cure his sick granddaughter, Mei Lin, who was suffering the ravages of a rare disease. Thanks to the prize money, Mei Lin is growing better and better everyday. However, one last surgery, which will require a vast sum of money, is needed to cure her completely. To save the life of his granddaughter, Gen Fu enters the tournament to win the money. *'Tina Armstrong', a superstar in the world of women's pro-wrestling and the only daughter of the professional wrestler Bass Armstrong. She is a woman of boundless ambition who thirsts for even greater fame and celebrity. Although she finally made her debut as a model following the last tournament, Tina enters the tournament yet again to this time become an actress. *'Bass Armstrong', an undefeated bad guy professional wrestler. Although Bass has already retired from his job, he enters the tournament to stop his daughter Tina from winning the tournament. Though Bass loves his daughter very much, he has always wanted Tina to become a professional wrestler, and is extremely upset in hearing that she now wants to become an actress. *'Leon', a mercenary whose lover, Rolande, died in his arms saying "The man I love is the strongest man in the world". In order to justify Rolande's last words, Leon entered the last tournament, only to be defeated. With the memories of Rolande still haunting him, Leon is determined to win this time around, pledging his all upon the desert grave of his lost lover. *'Bayman', the professional assasin who acquired his Russian martial arts in the military. Victor Donovan, who hired Bayman in the first tournament to assassinate Fame Douglas, sent a sniper to dispose of the assassin. Bayman easily quashed this feeble attempt on his life and in retaliation against his former client, enters the tournament to seek Donovan. *'Jann Lee', the fighter without a cause who still walks a lonely path. Though the reputation of Jann Lee (also known as "the Dragon") is universal, his search for a stronger enemy never ends. *'Leifang', known to many as the young genius of t'ai chi quan. Ever since Jann Lee saved her from a gang years ago, she has entered the Dead or Alive tournaments to test her skills against his. Jann Lee has demonstrated his superior skills in the last two tournaments, but Leifang won't let that stop her. *'Helena Douglas', the illegitimate daughter of Fame Douglas, former leader of DOATEC, and his third known mistress. Whether she likes it or not, she is dragged into the intertwined conspiracies within DOATEC as the only living relative of Douglas. Captured at last by the anti-Douglas faction of DOATEC, Donovan challenges her to win the tournament. Wanting to know the truth, Helena has no choice but to fight. *'Ayane', the younger half-sister of Kasumi and Hayate. Ayane's former teacher and foster father, Genra, the leader of the Mugen Tenshin clan's Hajinmon sect, has disappeared. Now the most powerful shinobi in the Hajinmon sect, Ayane learns that Genra has been turned into a puppet by DOATEC for its dastardly new project, Omega. Seeing what has become of her beloved father, Ayane realizes that fate commands her to put Genra out of his misery. New playabe characters *'Hitomi', the daughter of a Japanese mother and a German karate master, who has been training his daughter since she was just a child. Always wanting to join the Dead or Alive tournament in order to test her formidable skills against the real world, Hitomi's father has finally allowed her to participate. *'Brad Wong', a master of zui ba xian quan whose teacher, Chen, one day says to him: "Bring me the legendary drink. The name is "Genra."" Though these words are a riddle to Brad, he began his journey in search of the mysterious "Genra". After three years of wandering, he finds himself in the tournament. *'Christie', a cold-blooded woman who possesses all the characteristics required of an assassin and who has undergone the ultimate adaptation in excelling in the art of she quan, which she employs to the fullest. Christie has been hired by Donovan, leader of DOATEC's anti-Douglas faction, and enter the tournament in order to keep an eye on Helena. *'Hayate', the older brother of Kasumi and Ayane, and the newly ordained eighteenth leader of the Mugen Tenshin clan. He was the subject of DOATEC's experimental superhuman project (Project Epsilon), in which he lost his memory. But during the last tournament, he recovered his memory and officially became the leader of the Mugen Tenshin. He is now set to enter the tournament again in order to defeat Genra, the superhuman created as a puppet of DOATEC's Project Omega. Unlockable characters *'Ein', a merciless karateka who suffers from amnesia. In actuality, Ein was the identity which Hayate took on after being experimented on by DOATEC and losing all the memories of his past. After regaining his lost memories during the second tournament, Hayate returns to being his former self and no longer goes by the name of "Ein". Non-playable characters *'Chen', the great master of zui ba xian quan who three years ago sent Brad to find the legendary drink of Genra. *'Hitomi's father', a karate master who has trained his daughter since she was a child. Believing that Hitomi is finally ready to face the world, the karate master allows her to join the tournament and test her skills. *'Mei Lin', the granddaughter of Gen Fu who has been severely ill with a rare disease since the very first Dead or Alive tournament. Now needing one more surgery to save her life, Mei Lin's grandfather enters the tournament to win the prize money. *'Omega', the evil superhuman of DOATEC's Project Omega who was once the leader of the Mugen Tenshin's Hajinmon sect, Genra. With the third tournament being used as Omega's "slaughterhouse", many of the shinobi he once knew, including his foster daughter Ayane, have entered the tournament to defeat him. *'Rolande', a thief whose last words before her death inspired her lover, Leon, to join the tournament and fulfill her statement. *'An unnamed woman' who make her appearance at the Las Vegas casino in Zack's ending. Gameplay The basic gameplay controls remain essentially unchanged from Dead or Alive 2. Some minor tweaks have been added to the game system in the form of increased counter periods, unrestricted 3D-axis movement, and less emphasis on juggling combos. All these gameplay enhancements make the game more suited for beginners, and makes the artificial intelligence much more forgiving. Some attack commands for characters are updated. The game adds a new feature in its Sparring mode called Exercise, where players can practice character moves while commands are displayed at the same time. Tag Battle commands were changed to insert Attack Change, a new tag system feature where the fighting character can switch places with his or her tag partner, in which the character jumping in can then unleash an attack at the same time. The Tag Throws command was changed to pressing both the Free and Punch button together oppose to pressing all buttons in the previous game. Tag Battle can now be used in the game's Time Attack and Survival modes. The game incorporated less damage percentiles in counter maneuvers, and adds four new characters to the roster. As with previous entries in the series, it took advantage of the Xbox system's power to push the range of the graphics and stage sizes farther than Dead or Alive 2. Despite a few gameplay updates of the US version, the Japanese version featured many gameplay changes, with new attacks for characters, tweaked move properties for attacks, and a new intro cinematic for the game. Among the tweaks was to render most moves as safe against throw punishment on a normal hit, and to make version of Dead or Alive 3, which is termed by the hardcore Dead or Alive players as the 3.1 update. In the European version ("Dead or Alive 3.2"), some issues with overpowered moves in the 3.1 update were fixed, resulting in 3.2 becoming the preferred version of the three for video game tournament usage. Unlocking Ein Ein is the only unlockable character in Dead or Alive 3, and is playable in every gameplay mode, except Story Mode. To unlock Ein, the player must finish Story Mode with every character then play Survival Mode with Hayate, getting enough victories so you can put your name in the rankings. While at the ranking screen, enter EIN as the name. Development After the success of Dead or Alive 2, Tecmo was working on continuing the series when approached them, offering a deal to develop the next Dead or Alive as an exclusive title for the recently announced Xbox. The Xbox was still in development, and Microsoft was in need of exclusive, high-profile games to show off the technical capability of their product. This deal also fit in with series creator Tomonobu Itagaki's design philosophy of always targeting the most powerful console available for the development of Dead or Alive games. In 2001, the release of Dead or Alive 3 was announced in Japan, but the game was first released in the US, in order to coincide with the American Xbox launch. An updated version of Dead or Alive 3 was then released for the Japanese and European Xbox launches several months later. Dead or Alive 3 saw the addition of two new female characters, Hitomi and Christie, as well as two new male characters, Brad Wong and Hayate (note that Hayate was not exactly a new character, as he appeared in the previous game as Ein, though his moveset is new). Hitomi quickly took off as one of the more popular female characters of the series, despite her late addition. Dead or Alive 3 became the best selling game of the series, one of the top 50 best selling Xbox games, and the best selling fighting game on Xbox. Dead or Alive 3 was later re-issued as part of the Xbox Platinum Hits of games, sporting a new case design and a reduced price of $19.99. Booster Disk The European and Japanese versions of Dead or Alive 3 feature more content such as extra costumes, a time attack mode and a new CG introduction. Because of its early release, the American version does not feature any of the above. On June 2002, the provided a 'Booster Disk' for Dead or Alive 3, which included all of the extra costumes released on the European and Japanese versions of the game. It did not, however, contain the extra fighting moves or general game balancing tweaks that the other versions brought. The booster content continued to be provided with the Official Xbox Magazine demo disc from June 2002 to September 2002. Each disc featured the same content but gave magazine buyers multiple times to acquire it. This update was also released as an unlockable in Dead or Alive Ultimate, called "DOA 3 Booster Disc". It can be unlocked if all costumes were unlocked for every character. Music In addition to the original song in the game, three songs by the American rock band also appear in Dead or Alive 3. Nine Lives was used as the opening theme, and Home Tonight was played over the credits. Amazing was not used in the actual game, but was a music sample under the Settings option. After the release of Dead or Alive 3, Tecmo released the Dead or Alive 3 Original Sound Trax featuring every original track from Dead or Alive 3. Production credits :See: Dead or Alive 3/Production credits Reception Dead or Alive 3 received generally very positive reviews following its release. IGN gave the game 9.4 out of 10, giving a lot of praise to the game's graphics, which were considered one of the best examples of Xbox graphics at the time; under the graphics sub-section, reviewer Anthony Chau gave it a 9.9 out of 10, claiming that "only Halo rivals the graphic quality" of the game. On GameSpot, Dead or Alive 3 received an overall score of 7.9 out of 10; the reviewer also praised the graphics, saying the game "looks absolutely stunning" and was the "best-looking home fighting game ever released" (at the time) but commented that "once you get past its graphics ... you'll find that Dead or Alive 3 doesn't offer much of anything that hasn't been done in other 3D fighting games." Videos Dead Or Alive 3|Trailer Dead or Alive 3 Trailer.|Trailer Dead or Alive 3 - Intro|Intro Dead or Alive 3 - Ending Credits|End Credits Packaging artwork File:DOA3 first cover.jpg|North American Pre-order art. File:DOA3NA.jpg|North America. File:DOA3NAPlat.jpg|North America Platinum Hits. File:DOA3JAP.jpg|Japan. File:DOA3JAPplat.jpg|Japan Platinum Collection. File:Dead Or Alive 3.jpg|PAL. File:DOA3EUplat.jpg|PAL Classics. See also *Costumes *Command lists *Fighting quotes *Item Collection Datasheet *Merchandise *''Dead or Alive 3 Original Sound Trax'' *Promotional Artwork and Wallpapers Trivia * The font style of the Dead or Alive 3 logo became the current style logo for the series. * Dead or Alive 3 is the first Dead or Alive game to offer 16:9 widescreen display. * The commands in Dead or Alive 3 were colored to match the Xbox controller's face buttons: , and becoming , and . This has remained consistent for the rest of the series, even on other platforms. *In the 11th episode of the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer entitled "Gone", two of the Trio members, Andrew Wells and Jonathan Levinson, play Dead or Alive 3 at the arcade. External Links *Official website * Category:Games Category:Xbox Games